1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to techniques for auctioning assets that can be shared to maximize revenue.
2. Description of the Related Art
Intangible assets such as patents, know-how and intellectual property can be rapidly appreciating assets, but they are highly illiquid. Patent holders are eager for alternative means for monetizing their ideas and intellectual assets. A major hindrance in monetizing intangible intellectual assets is the lack of an outlet to trade such assets. From the buyer side, acquiring patents and attendant know-how can be the key to market leadership in developing new products and services. This problem has been identified as a key challenge by many companies.
For patent and other intellectual property (IP) marketplaces to take off in a significant way, they must (i) differentiate the quality of patents, (ii) ensure market participants act with integrity, (iii) provide flexible market infrastructure supporting different forms of innovation, and lastly but importantly (iv) generate IP value fairly for all participants based on open market dynamics. All of these factors depend on whether or not such markets use mechanisms that are efficient and robust to manipulation.
One feature of flexible IP marketplaces is that they support various forms of ownership. For example, a patent license can either be given exclusively to a single entity, or it can be given non-exclusively to two or more companies (e.g., licenses for using a type cell phone technology). However, if an entity is sharing an IP license, the value the entity can derive from the license is necessarily reduced if the entity shares the license with k (k representing a number) others as opposed to if the entity were to not share the license, or share the license with k−1 other entities. The entity selling the IP license can decide on how many will share the license depending on what number of licensees will maximize the entity's total revenue.
The problem of maximizing the total revenue received from selling non-exclusive licenses is not unique to IP markets. For example, how does a golf club maximize revenue from selling golf club memberships? The value derived depends on exclusivity of the memberships. Of course, the value or utility each member derives depends on whether 100 people share it, or 500 people share it. But how is the golf club to determine how many people to grant membership to maximize its revenue? Another potential market needing to maximize revenue for selling non-exclusive assets is the market for selling rare or limited collector items such as limited edition cars. The car maker needs to determine how many limited edition cars to make.
Therefore, what are needed are techniques that maximize revenue for selling assets that may have non-exclusive use.